If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You may have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

The New Author's Guide to Submitting a Story

Congratulations! You've just finished writing your first chapter and you want to put in onto our Fanfiction site for others to read, but first there are some things you need to consider!

Have you checked your fiction for spelling and grammar mistakes? It is a well known fact that when you read through a piece of work, whether it's a fiction, an essay or even a letter, your brain can automatically correct mistakes without your concious self realising. Have you read your fiction out loud to try and pick up on these mistakes? If you want to be really sure, give it to a friend or family member to read through or hire a beta from our forums who can check everything is ok and work with you to perfect your writing.

Have you written a summary? It is important to have a well written summary as it is the first example a reader will get of your fiction. If your summary is filled with mistakes or gives too much or too little away about the story, a reader is unlikely to want to read any further. If you write your summary beforehand, you can make sure it is correct before adding it to your well-written story and avoid being rejected for this reason.

Have you read the submission rules? I know it looks like there are a lot of them on that first submission page but they are all valid, and if you fail on any one of them you could have your fiction rejected.

First of all, you need to create an account on MNFF so you can post a story.

Click on the spot on the side bar that says Login.

Under the empty boxes is a spot for you to register.

Once you register, you can then submit a story.

To submit a story:

Log in then click on account info.

Click on Add new story.

It is a good idea to read through the submission guidelines. You need to follow them exactly.

The first empty box is for the title of your story. Just type it in.

The next boxes are to list a co-author. If you wrote the story yourself, leave them blank.

The next box is for your summary. A good summary is important because this is what will draw the reader to your story. Make sure you double and triple check your summary for spelling, punctuation and any other errors. Your story can be rejected if there are errors in your summary. And even if they are not caught by the mods, the reader will catch them and the reader may not read your story if there are mistakes in the summary.

The next box is for story notes. You do not have to add any notes here.

The next section is to choose your category. This is a very important section and it is imperative you not only pick the right category, but you only pick ONE category.

Romance: clicking on this brings up sub-categories. Choose the ONE that is the basis of your story. Click on it and it will highlight. Then click on the arrows inbetween the boxes. This will move it to the box on the right. Make sure you only have ONE category in the box on the right.

General: This will also bring up a sub-category menu. Again, pick the one that is the right one for your story. Click on it to highlight it then click on the arrow to move it to the box on the right. Again, only ONE category should be in that box.

Contest Submissions: This will also bring up a sub-category menu. Proceed as described above. If your submission is not directly related to a contest from the beta boards, then this is not the category for your submission.

Each of the other categories do not have sub-catagories. Click on them to highlight them, then use the arrow to move them to the right hand box.

Remember, each story can only be submitted to ONE category. If you accidently end up with more than one category in the box on the right, highlight the wrong category and click on the remove button. You must have one category in the box to submit.

The next box is for warnings. Click on the warnings appropriate for your story. Hold the ctrl key down on your keyboard to choose more than one warning. Make sure you add every warning that applies to your story.

The next box is for the ratings. As with the warnings, make sure you choose the appropriate rating for your story.

3rd – 5th year: Inappropriate for younger readers, this fiction may include some limited profanity (or "worse" words) and some limited sexual innuendo. Mild to moderate violence is permissible.

6th – 7th year: For more mature readers, this fiction may include more profanity and more advanced sexual innuendo, although no blatant sexual overtones. More descriptive violence is permissible.

Professors: This fiction is inappropriate for underage wizards and readers. It contains more profanity and violence. It may also contain sexual innuendo, but may not be graphic in nature.

The next box is for your chapter title.

The next box is for author notes. This is a good place to thank your betas and make any disclaimers as to ownership of characters you would like to make.

The next box is for your story. There are two ways to do this.

The first is to copy and paste your story. Copy your story from your document and paste it into the box. You will need to add html tags to italicize words and also to make them bold. The complete list of html tags can be found in the help section under the formatting submission essay.

The second is to upload your story. It must be in .txt format to upload. This is what a story written on notepad would be saved as.

The last box is for end notes. As with story notes and author notes, you do not have to put anything in here.

Finally, hit preview.

Read through your summary, notes and story as it shows on the page. Check for any mistakes. Below your story are the boxes again, you can edit anything you find you need to correct. It is a good idea to once again preview if you make any changes.

If everything is perfect, then click on submit story.

The only thing left to do is to wait for your validation letter.

~

Once your story has entered the queue, be patient. It can take up to ten days for your story to go through the queue.

You can check on your story by clicking on Account Info, then clicking on Manage Stories.

Your story will show up there and will show the date you submitted as well as whether or not it has been validated.

If your story suddenly goes missing, that means it has been rejected. You should receive a rejection letter. If you don’t receive one you can post in the thread titled, ‘I didn’t receive a rejection letter’. Make sure you read the rules for posting and follow them.